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Peninsula readers' letters: October 22







From Daily News Group readers





Posted: 10/21/2013 06:14:19 PM PDT

Updated: 10/22/2013 12:19:36 AM PDT



Debt-ridden U.S.



Dear Editor: The total debt of the U.S. alone is $17 trillion. It's hard to even conceive of how much money that really is. Well, that is precisely how fragile and shaky the present dollar-based capitalistic system is. It is so delicate and artificial that almost anything could cause it to come tumbling down.



America's behaving like a drunk, all right. And that's only the "official" national debt; the unofficial national debt is much more than $17 trillion, not to mention the many more trillions that U.S. businesses and consumers owe. It took 150 years for the U.S. to reach the first trillion dollars of national debt.



How long do you think it will take the rest of the world to wise up to the fact that those growing trillions will never be repaid, that the U.S. can't go on living on borrowed money forever? As one economist put it, "Things that can't go on forever, don't." The crash will come, and those who've been "living deliciously" may find themselves struggling to fight off poverty. It's gotten to the point that even the International Monetary Fund is issuing warnings to the U.S. about the state of its economy.



Ted Rudow III,



Palo Alto